Matandang Dalaga

There are certain events in our lives that push us to take a hard look at ourselves and really come clean and be honest at what we will see. To some people, it’s losing a job or losing a love one. to some, it’s getting an award or getting married. To some, it’s seeing a newborn child and talking with a dying person. To me, it was while I was eating salad. Yes, it was eating a salad. After spending the whole morning “trying” to work and successfully reading Facebook be bombarded by people criticize the government for the slow response in the face of calamity, I realized something. I have a beef with all the parents and adults who didn’t evacuate the area hit by Yolanda. They were warned and were asked to evacuate but they refuse. As a result, it was their children who died and suffered. The refuse to “avoid” the calamity and now they double, if not triple, the gravity of the problem. That being said, the problem is already there. There is really nothing we can do ab

There has to be at least one. If you're single, financially stable and in the Philippines, it seems like an unwritten mandate that you support one of your siblings or nieces or nephews to school. I am not sure how it happened. I just did. Every single person I met in my career with a "great career" has that one scholar. People around us started making babies without a rat's ass clue on how they will support the child's future and they proceeded anyway. Then somehow, they manage to find someone in their life who is single and earns money to enjoy the life of being single. Most of the time, it's a relative so it becomes some sort of an emotional obligation for that relative to care for the said child with uncertain future. Usually, it happens in stages. First, it's just money to pay for part of the tuition. The next year, they'll ask that you pay for the full fee and they'll pay you back. Of course, they'll never pay you back. In fact,

The only "family" I have here is my friend since high school. We have always been close. She's generous and kind. She has taken me in like a sister since I got here. Part of her "sisterly" thing is to have me join her close group of friends in their out of town adventures. She's a year older than I am and married. So are her friends.  In fact, their children are all grown up, except for one. They are all in their early to late 40s. We went out of town and we used two cars. The other car is where the teeners were. Naturally, I went with my friend, in the "oldies" car.  I have always pride myself for being able to "dig" into any interest from any generation. After all, I grew up listening to The Beatles and Elvis. I like both and a bunch of other songs and stuff from their generation.